Chapter 12

Ye Fusheng felt the urge to laugh but halfway through, his eyes turned red with emotion.

“I slapped those two fruits from his hand,” Xie Wuyi said. “He wasn’t angry. He just asked me if I hated them.”

“I said of course I did. I didn’t expect him to laugh and say, ‘As long as you know who to hate, you won’t harm the innocent.’”

The innocent, presumably, referred to seven-year-old Xie Li at the time, and the still-traveling disciple Xue Chanyi.

Those five days might have been the calmest of his life. Sharing shelter with the man who had stolen everything from him, bound by circumstance, they not only got along but shared a strange peace.

Perhaps nothing dissolves hatred like realizing you’re both people abandoned by fate.

Sometimes, he couldn’t help but think maybe that man was better suited to bear the name Xie Min. Like his name, he was gentle and composed a true gentleman.

But he could not resign himself.

That night, heavy rain fell. The cave was damp and freezing. The man gave him his cloak, then huddled by the entrance to block the wind with his own body.

He asked, “I ruined your sword arm. Don’t you hate me?”

The man smiled faintly and said,
“If I didn’t hate you, would I have pulled you down with me when I jumped?
But having stared death in the face, I came to realize… my hatred doesn’t compare to your unwillingness.”

“I was taken back to Duanshui Manor at age eight,” the man said. “Lived fourteen years in shadows, without name, without identity certainly without freedom. All because our father still had a sliver of longing for you, left adrift in the Western Regions.
And he didn’t want gossip.”

He rubbed his palms.
“When you returned, I was terrified. I didn’t know what would happen to me once the real heir returned.
But then I saw you… in that state.
I was glad.”

“Glad,” Xie Wuyi sneered, “that I had fallen so low?”

“Of course. Because it meant I could finally take your place, live in the light, claim the life I’d dreamed of.
But I also felt cold because if our father could abandon you so easily… someday, he might abandon me too.”

“You’re not stupid, I’ll give you that.
Makes sense if you were a fool, Rong Cui wouldn’t have favored you.
Ten years of love between us couldn’t compare to one sham marriage turned real.”

“She’s a good woman,” the man sighed. “Gentle, graceful, the kind you’d want to build a life with.
So yes, she poisoned your saber but I can’t help but remember her kindness.”

“Then you’d best kill me now,” Xie Wuyi said. “Because once I’m back, I will settle this with her.”

“You won’t.”

“What makes you think I’m the type to repay cruelty with kindness?”

“You’re not. But neither do you return kindness with cruelty.”
The man smiled.
“Do you know of Sun Minfeng, the ‘Ghost Doctor,’ called ‘the Yama King’s Foe’?”

The legendary healer Xie Wuyi had used that name to mock Xie Zhongshan before, but had only heard rumors of his skill.

“Yes. A year ago, while training with Chanyi, I saved his life when he was ambushed.
He owes me a favor. Before our duel, I secretly wrote to him, asking him to come to Guyang.”

“Your poison’s only suppressed by internal force. But the Ghost Doctor can cure you.”

Xie Wuyi narrowed his eyes.
“Then why didn’t you ask him to heal your arm?”

The man looked down at his maimed wrist.
“That’s the favor I’m repaying to you.
There can only be one Xie Min in the martial world.
And I’m giving everything back to you.”

Xie Wuyi sat up, voice hoarse.
“You think I’ll thank you for this pathetic charity?”

“I told you. It’s not charity. It’s a return.” The man placed a firm hand on his shoulder.
“Your name, your honor, your duty I’m giving it all back. Isn’t that what you always wanted?”

Xie Wuyi laughed bitterly.
“Then what of Rong Cui? Of her child? And your disciple?”

“You said it yourself know clearly who you hate.”

A thousand words caught in his throat. He panted, then spat,

“You’re a coward.”

This man feared no revenge, but couldn’t face a life of shattered identity. He would rather give up everything and return to nothing, than carry the past forward.

“I’ve never looked down on you more than I do today.”

“I agree,” the man said with a wry smile. “So… let’s make a pact.”

“A pact?”

“Three years. Let’s meet again in three years. In that time, you reclaim what’s yours and settle your debts.
And I’ll start over become someone real.”

He said softly, “I’ve never thought myself inferior to you, nor you to me.
We didn’t settle the score last time.
Three years from now, let’s determine who wins, who loses, who’s right, and who’s wrong. What do you say?”

Xie Wuyi paused, then laughed coldly. “In the end, I’m still the one who gets the short end. I reclaim my life, sure but I’m also stuck cleaning up your mess.”

“Then thank you for bearing that loss. When we meet again, I’ll treat you to a proper drink… hmm? It’s almost dawn.”

The man stood, leaning on the cave wall, and looked out through the rain.
“Do you know why I chose the name Wuyi?”

Xie Wuyi shook his head.

“At first, I wanted to mock myself. I felt like I had no one, nowhere to belong. So I thought of calling myself ‘Wu Yi’ Without Dependence.
But then I met an old soldier.
He was missing an arm, blind in one eye, and still marching toward the border.”

The man had tried to stop him, to offer coin and transport back home. But the old soldier refused.

“A man bears many things duty, honor, family, country. Me, I’ve fought on the frontier most of my life. I’ve no family, can’t till fields or fish or hunt. Rather than waste away, I’ll return to the land I guarded. Give me a good blade and a flask of strong wine. That’s all I need to survive that bitter land.”

“That was the first time I realized beyond Jianghu grudges, there are greater things to fight for.” He let out a slow breath.
“I chose Wuyi not because I was lost… But because I wanted one day to live boldly, with no regrets. That day has come.”

Xie Wuyi’s brow twitched.
“You’re going to the border?”

“I want to see it the blood and iron that shapes a nation.”
He turned, met Xie Wuyi’s eyes, and smiled.

“The past is now yours again.
And I give you the name Wuyi as well. From now on, you are Xie Min.
And you are also… Xie Wuyi.”

“Shall we say we are without clothes? We shall share the same robes.”

The oil lamp flickered low.
As the tale came to its end, Ye Fusheng realized his back was cold with sweat.

So this is what it meant when grievances, gratitude, love, and hatred mingled into something beyond reckoning.

Xie Wuyi said quietly, “After that night, he left with nothing but a walking stick. I was found by Xie Zhongshan’s people and taken back in secret. To cover up the identity swap, every physician who saw me was silenced.”

“Only the Ghost Doctor, who honored his promise, agreed to Xie Zhongshan’s terms. He used skin grafting and disguise techniques to cover my wounds made me look exactly like him. But the internal poison was too deeply rooted, even for him. He could only suppress it and propose sealing my acupoints with golden needles.”

Xie Wuyi took a sip of water, eyes flashing cold. “That method buried most of my martial power, but also kept me alive. Since I agreed to that pact, I couldn’t die. So I bided my time, suppressed the vultures circling for advantage, and prepared to deal with Xie Zhongshan.”

Once mighty, even he had grown old.
Assaulted by blows from all sides, he was weary. And the Canglan Thirteen Sabers were as invincible as ever.

The blade that could sever rivers now drowned in greater torrents.

He didn’t die by the sword but became a prisoner of his own son.

“I crippled his martial arts, severed his leg tendons, and fed him mute medicine. I took Duanshui Manor in my hands. But when I saw my father crawling on the ground, there was triumph… and sorrow.”

Ye Fusheng said,
“Revenge rarely brings joy.”

Just like that he had taken back the manor, but was left holding the weight of legacy, without belonging or peace.

Some who carry great burdens aren’t stubborn or blind. They simply drink cold water and know it for themselves.

“I’m not like you,” Xie Wuyi said. “I don’t let go. I remember every debt.
For a man like Xie Zhongshan,
confinement in the back courtyard with food and clothing was already mercy.”

“He discarded his son’s love.
Why should I flinch from punishing my father? Even if I descend into hell, torn by blades, I will still laugh at today’s justice.”

“You are indeed one who distinguishes right from wrong,” Ye Fusheng paused.
“So even though Madame Rong betrayed you and nearly killed you,
you spared her for the sake of one severed finger?”

“Women are stubborn terrifyingly so,” Xie Wuyi sneered. “I owed that man one favor. So I let her keep the title of manor mistress, raise her son in peace.”

“But she loved her husband more than her son. She chose to imprison herself in penance rather than face me. She refused to accept his death.
She left her child to be raised by her enemy. Hah, they really are a pair.”

Ye Fusheng thought of Xie Li.
“I think you raised him well.”

Xie Wuyi gave a half-smile.
“I beat him, scolded him. Even the servants couldn’t stand how I treated him. And you say I raised him well?”

Ye Fusheng lowered his eyes.
“You didn’t abuse him without reason. If I were in your shoes, I’d struggle to face that child too. But in the end you taught him. You even passed on the Canglan Thirteen Sabers without reservation. He suffered, yes but better now than later. Not every mistake comes with a second chance.”

Xie Wuyi ran a finger around the rim of his cup. His eyes were calm like still water, revealing nothing.

Xie Wuyi finally asked,
“Then… how did he die?”